Enclosure for bottles and other containers



Jan. 1, 1935. N. s. ELLIS ENCLOSURE FOR BOTTLES AND OTHER CONTAINERS d2/"dim jig-5S BY ATTORNEY INVENTOR ffy Patented Jan. l,v 1935 UNITED STATES ENCLOSURE FOR BOTTLES AND OTHER CONTAINERS Norman Stanley Ellis, Hamilton,

Ontario,

Canada, assigner to Metal Textile Corporation, West Orange, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application December 28, 1932, Serial No. 649,174

1 Claim.

This invention has reference to a novel construction of enclosure for bottles and other containers; and the invention relates, more particularly, to a novel shape conforming enclosure made of knitted metallic mesh.

This invention has for its principal object to provide a knitted metallic mesh enclosing ja'cket for wine and other bottles or for other forms of containers such as jars, especially as made of glass, earthenware and the like; such jacket, by reason of its knitted mesh form, being readily accommodated to the contours of the enclosed bottle or other container in close fitting relationthereto, and then suitably secured so as to provide the following general advantages, viz., to serve as a buffer between the bottles or containers when a plurality thereof are piled or packed in mutually contiguous relation, thus reducing risk of breakage; to serve as frictional means to resist slipping in the hands of the user when handling the bottle or container; to prevent scattering of fragments should the bottle or container be accidently broken by bursting, dropping, etc.; and generally to :serve as a protective enclosure for the bottle or container while nevertheless permitting effective visibility of the same and of labels borne thereby.

This invention has for a further object to provide in combination with the knitted metallic mesh enclosing jacket novel `means for sealing the same against unauthorized removal, where'- by tampering with the enclosed bottle or container, with intent to adulterate or substitute the content thereof, or to deface or substitute the label thereof, is prevented.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularly enumerated, will be understood from the following detailed description of the same.

An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:-

Fi'g. 1 is a fragmentary view of a piece of tubular knit metallic mesh fabric from which the novel enclosure or jacket is made, this view showing a preliminary step in the preferred method of forming a bottom end closure for the same; Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of a bottle provided with the novel enclosing jacket of this invention; Fig. 3 is a top end view of the same; Fig. 4 is a bottom end view of the same; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section through the top end of the same, showing one manner of sealing the upper end of the jacket; Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 5, showing a modified arrangement for sealing the upper end of the jacket; and Fig. 1 is a fragmentary vertical section through the bottom end of the jacketed bottle, showing the preferred form of bottom end closure for the jacket.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the hereinabove described views, to indicate corresponding parts. i

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing the reference character A indicates a portion of a tubular knit sleeve of metallic mesh from which is made the novel enclosure for bottles and other'containers according to this invention. This sleeve is of the general structure produced by circular knitting machine operation, and is knitted from metallic wire of suitable gauge and of desired cross-sectional shape, i. e. either round, flat or other shape. Preferably a relatively non-corrosive metal is utilized, such as brass, copper, zinc, etc., although it will be obvious that any other metal may be employed if desired. For reasons, subsequently referred to herein, it is also preferable to knit the sleeve from a single strand or run of wire, although two or more strands or runs can be used.

A suitable length of tubular knit sleeve A is taken to form the jacket of this invention, and one end thereof, preferably the lower end, is gathered together and twisted as at B (Fig. l) to close this end. When one end of the sleeve A is thus closed, said sleeve A is preferably turned inside out to bring the central twisted portion B on the inside of the closed end, and suitable means to secure the closed vtwisted portion against opening up is applied, either before or after the sleeve is applied over a bottle or other container to be enclosed in the jacket provided thereby, To so secure the closed bottom end of the sleeve, an encircling tie of wire or other material may be engaged and fastened around -the gathered or twisted portion B, but if a non-tampering jacket is desired, it is preferable to apply a seal C, of material adapted to harden or set or to be pressed or crimped so as to imbed or grip the twisted portion B therein, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 7,

thus securely retaining said closed bottom end of the sleeveiA against unauthorized manipulated opening as well as accidental opening. This seal C may be `made of hardening wax, lead or any lother metal or substance capable of interlocking Cil closing stopper, cap or the like. The bottle 10 is inserted bottom rst through the open upper end of the sleeve A and'into the latter, so that the closed bottom end A of the sleeve is engaged by and over the bottom of the bottle, with the body of the sleeve A surrounding the sides of the latter. Owing to free play, in relation one to another, of the knitted loops forming the sleeve A, the latter may be stretched or contracted as the contour of the bottle may require, so that the sleeve, by a little manipulation, will readily and quickly accommodate itself to the bottle contours so as to more or less closely and atly hug the surfaces thereof. In the case illustrated in Fig. 1, by

stretching the upper end of the sleeve the loops of the mesh will elongate, thus contracting the sleeve A laterally, and consequently the latter will readily shape itself to the narrow neck of the bottle as shown. It will thus be obvious that the knitted sleeve A, because of its ability to easily expand or contract laterally, can be closely fitted to almost any shape of bottle, jar or other container, an advantage of considerable importance from the standpoint of quantity production of jackets for easily adaptable application to commercial containers of various forms.

After the sleeve A is applied over the bottle 10, the upper open end of the sleeve A is gathered together across the top of the cork 13, and suitably secured in closed condition, as by twisting tying or similar fastening. If a non-tampering securing of the top of the jacket is desired, the gathered and closed top end A of the jacket is sealed by application thereto and over the top of the cork 13 of a seal D, of a material adapted to harden and set or to be pressed or crimped so as to imbed or grip the gathered portion A therein, as indicated in Fig. 5, thus securely retaining said closed upper end of the sleeve A against unauthorized manipulated opening as well as accidental opening. Said seal D may also be made of hardening wax, lead or any other substance capable of interlocking with the closed upper end of the jacket. A somewhat modified arrangement for sealing the upper end of the jacket is shown in Fig. 6 of the drawing, wherein the bottle cork 13 is provided in its exterior exposed end with a countersunk seat or cavity 14. In this case, the margins of the top open end of the jacket are gathered or bunched together and thrust into said seat or cavity 14, whereupon a hardening sealing substance D is poured into the latter to imbed and secure the gathered or bunched portions A" of the jacket, as shown. l

From the above description, it will be obvious that the novel jacket entirely encloses the bottle 10 with all of the advantages above pointed out in the opening paragraphs of this specicaton.

When the jacket is sealed at its extremities in the manner and by the means described, or in equivalent manner or by equivalent means, it is practically impossible to gain unauthorized access to the enclosed bottle without giving evidence of such tampering. Especially is this so when the kmtted mesh is comprised of a single strand or run of wire, for if it were attempted to cut the wire between the seals to produce an opening in the jacket for removal and return of the bottle, l or for making a substitution therefor, such ravelling of the body of the jacket would occur as to practically destroy it, or at least render it practically impossible to close the opening without leaving sign of the occurrence of the tampering 1 therewith.

It may here be pointed out that the jacket may be knit from bright or burnished at or ribbonlike metallic wire, thus not only increasing the frictional or non-skid characteristics of the jacket, but producing a bright scintillating appearance adding very considerably to display appeal of the jacket bottle or container as a commercial package.

It will be apparent that the novel protective 2 enclosing jacket according to this invention is especially adapted for use in connection with wine and spirits bottles and containers, particularly champagne bottles, not alone by reason of the protective features, but also by reason of 3 the anti-slipping and buffer effects of such jacket, whereby risk of accidental breaking of bottles and loss of the relatively expensive content is greatly reduced.

I am aware that various changes could be 3 made in the above described constructions, and many apparently Widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof; it is therefore intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:-

A shape conforming protective ja'cket for bot- 45 tles and other containers, comprising an elastic sleeve of metallic fabric knitted from a single run of exible wire to provide transverse rows of interknitted relatively movable loops, said loops being capable of both transverse contraction with accompanying longitudinal elongation and transverse expansion with accompanying longitudinal foreshortening, whereby the fabric will closely conform to the contours of the bottle or container to which it is applied so as 'to flatly overlie the surface areas thereof, and means to respectively close and secure the ends of said sleeve.

NORMAN STANLEY ELLIS. 

